1. Who is it that says most, which can say more,
2. Than this rich praise, that you alone, are you,
3. In whose confine immured is the store
4. Which should example where your equal grew?
5. Lean penury within that pen doth dwell
6. That to his subject lends not some small glory;
7. But he that writes of you, if he can tell
8. That you are you, so dignifies his story.
9. Let him but copy what in you is writ,
10. Not making worse what nature made so clear,
11. And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,
12. Making his style admired every where.
13. You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,
14. Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.

Although a
continuation of the rival poet(s)'
sequence this sonnet introduces new material by investigating the
reality
of all comparisons. The youth is beyond compare, as attested in 18, and
any praise of him is merely a repetition of what he is (38 &
39), and
the miracle of his perfection foreshadows all attempts past and future
to
provide an exemplar who could match him (53 & 59). To a certain
extent
therefore the poem is a re-hashing of old ideas, but here the
implication
is, more or less, that all language is useless, for what after all is
the
point of asserting time and again that 'you are you', and how could
language
itself, something entirely isolated and separate from the youth's
existence,
do anything but provide an empty shell as an example of the thing
itself?
The conclusion therefore is that all poetry in this context is
worthless,
especially that of the rival poet(s), who flatter to deceive. But the
youth
himself is (deliberately it seems) brought in to undermine the
conclusion
- perhaps he is not the perfect exemplar described in the first four
lines,
for he has a sickly interest in this false praise that is heaped on
him,
and this flaw in his character only makes the situation worse, for the
more
he welcomes it, the more of it is generated and thrown upon him.

The
meanings of some of the lines, especially
1-4, have always proved especially difficult to ascertain, and have
taxed
the minds of the best commentators in the past. I provide some
alternative
interpretations below, but do not claim to have any magic key to unlock
their true meaning. The best that can be done is to try to retain in
suspension
in one's mind some of the most likely readings, and to proceed from
there.

THE 1609
QUARTO VERSION

84

W

Ho is it that
ſayes moſt,which
can ſay more,
Then this rich praiſe,that you alone,are you,

In
whoſe confine immured if
the ſtore,
Which ſhould example where your equall grew,
Leane penurie within that Pen doth dwell,
That to his ſubiect lends not ſome ſmall glory,
But he that writes of you,if he can tell,
That you are you,ſo dignifies his ſtory.
Let him but coppy what in you is writ,
Not making worſe what nature made ſo cleere.
And ſuch a counter-part ſhall fame his wit,
Making his ſtile admired euery where.
You to your beautious bleſſings adde a curſe,
Being fond on praiſe,which makes your praiſes worſe.

1. Who is it that says most, which can say more,

1. Lines 1
- 4 are ambiguous, complex, opaque
and elusive all at the same time. They could be read as a series of
four
questions, each beginning with an interrogative pronoun Who?,
Which?,
In whose?, Which?. The meaning would then be (approximately)
- Who amongst
your admirers praises you most? Which person can say more than this in
praise
of you, that you are absolutely and inescapably yourself? In what
person
is there walled up such a store of wit (as to praise you adequately)?
Which
poet could provide a copy such as might equal you in all your
perfection?
Editorshowever generally do not give this
interpretation, and variously
split the lines with question marks after most, you
or grew,
and take in whose as referring to the youth. Lines
3 and 4 are then
taken as placed in apposition to you of line 2, and
descriptive of
the youth's excellent qualities.

The Q punctuation
unfortunately is not helpful,
for here where a question mark or two might be useful in indicating the
sense of the lines, none are given, whereas in some other sonnets, e.g.
76, they are spread quite prolifically. Another interpretation is
obtained
by taking the which of this line to refer back to
the poet who says
most, and the meaning then becomes 'Whoever that person is who seems to
be saying most, cannot in effect say more than this simple statement,
that
etc' A somewhat awkward interpretation, but the best that can be
managed.
Some editors follow the suggestion of Malone by placing a question mark
after most and you, thereby
focusing attention on the preliminary
phrase 'Who is that person or poet who is most fulsome in his praise?
How
can he in fact say more than the truthful praise that you are
yourself?'
Then, if we take lines 3-4 as merely being descriptive of you,
the
sentence pans out as given in the note to 3 below.

2. Than this rich praise, that you alone, are
you,

2.
See above. you alone are you contains
echoes from the Catholic Mass - tu solus sanctus, tu solus
altissimus,
tu solus dominus - you alone are holy, you alone are the
most exalted,
you alone are the Lord. It therefore treads a thin line between
blasphemy
and praise, a feature which has already been noted in earlier sonnets,
8,
34, 52, 74, and occurs later in 105 & 108.

3. In whose confine immured
is the store

3.
If we take the antecedent whose to
be you above, then 3-4 can be read as meaning
'within the confining
limits of your person is walled in (immured) the
reservoir (store)
from which an example or copy might be built up as if to equal you in
growth
and stature'.

4. Which should example
where your equal grew?

4.
See above. example = provide an example
of, exemplify.

5. Lean penury within that
pen doth dwell

5.
Lean penury = poverty, which is thin
i.e. lean (through lack of food); that
pen = the pen of that
writer who etc.; that poet.

6. That to his subject
lends not some small glory;

6.
to his subject = to his theme or subject
matter. But with a suggestion perhaps of a monarch ennobling his
subjects
by his mere presence. lends = gives, provides. As in 82: What strained touches rhetoric can lend,

11.
counterpart = copy, replica of you.
fame = make famous. His inventive ingenuity
will be made famous by
the copy he makes of you simply by describing you as you are (saying
you
are you).

12. Making his style
admired every where.

12.
style - primarily refers to style
in writing, but with a pun on 'stylus', a writing instrument, the
equivalent
of 'pen' of line 5. Possibly a bawdy pun - his prick is everywhere
admired.

13. You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,

13.
beauteous blessings - these could
be the youth's innate qualities, or, more specifically, they could
refer
to the blessings he bestows on various authors by his patronage. (See
82,
line 4). The latter in some ways seems more appropriate to what
follows,
since an author's dedication of a book to a patron usually contained
undiluted
praise. curse = fault, blemish. Perhaps a suggestion
of womanish frailty,
since women traditionally require praise of their beauty, and curse
= the menstrual period.

14. Being fond on praise, which makes your
praises worse.

14.
The meaning seems to be that, being so avid
of praise, the youth attracts false flattery, far worse than if the
truth
were told, which would itself be praise. being fond on = being madly devoted to, being
foolishly hooked on.
which makes your praises worse = which ensures
that praise levelled
at you is artificial and corrupt.